Washington (Jan. 12, 2026)—More than 230 U.S. colleges and universities received the 2026 Carnegie Community Engagement (CE) Classification, an elective designation awarded by the American Council on Education (ACE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching that highlights an institution’s commitment to community engagement. A listing of all the institutions that currently hold the Classification endorsement can be found here.

“Higher education is a vital economic engine for us all. Our colleges and universities not only fuel science and innovation, they build prosperity in rural, urban and suburban communities nationwide. said Timothy F.C. Knowles, president of the Carnegie Foundation. “We celebrate each of these institutions, particularly their dedication to partnering with theirneighbors — fostering civic engagement, building useable knowledge, and catalyzing real world learning experiences for students.” 

Meanwhile, ACE and the Carnegie Foundation are also pleased to announce that the University of San Diego (USD) will serve as the administrative and operational host for the CE Classification for the next two cycles (2029 and 2032).

“Carnegie’s Community Engagement Classification is a mark of excellence for schools like USD that prioritize active collaboration with our public, private and nonprofit partners to address humanity’s urgent challenges and serve the public good,” said USD President James T. Harris III, D.Ed. “As a Catholic university and an anchor institution, we are proud to serve as operational host and assist other campuses in their journey of earning the Community Engagement designation while illustrating the tremendous impact institutions of higher education have in our communities.”

The CE Classification is awarded following a process of self-study by each institution. The classification has been the leading framework for institutional assessment and recognition of community engagement in U.S. higher education for the past 19 years with classification cycles in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2024, and now 2026. The 2029 cycle will be for first-time applicants.

In the 2026 cycle, 237 institutions earned the CE Classification, joining the 40 institutions classified in 2024 for a total of 277 institutions that currently hold the designation. Of the institutions recognized in 2026, 48 are receiving the classification for the first time, while 189 have previously held it. The 2026 cohort includes a diverse range of institutions, with 157 public institutions, 80 private colleges and universities, and 81 Minority Serving Institutions represented among the recipients.

“The institutions receiving the 2026 Community Engagement Classification exemplify American higher education’s commitment to the greater good,” said ACE President Ted Mitchell. “The beneficiaries of this unflagging dedication to public purpose missions are their students, their teaching and research enterprises, and their wider communities.”

The application for the 2029 Community Engagement Classification will be available January 2027. Applications will be due April 2028, and the announcement of the newly designated campuses will be made in January 2029. Click here for more information about the application and the timeline.

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About the Carnegie Classifications

The Carnegie Classifications are the nation’s leading framework for categorizing and describing colleges and universities in the United States. Utilized frequently by policymakers, funders, and researchers, the Classifications are a critical benchmarking tool for postsecondary institutions. ACE and the Carnegie Foundation announced a partnership in February 2022 to reimagine the Classifications to better reflect the diversity of postsecondary institutions and more completely characterize the impact that today’s institutions have in society.

About ACE

ACE is a membership organization that leads higher education with a united vision for the future, galvanizing our members to make change and collaborating across the sector to design solutions for today’s challenges, serve the needs of a diverse student population, and shape effective public policy. As the major coordinating body for the nation’s colleges and universities, our strength lies in our diverse membership of nearly 1,600 colleges and universities, related associations, and other organizations in America and abroad. ACE is the only major higher education association to represent all types of U.S. accredited, degree-granting colleges and universities. For more information, please visit www.acenet.edu or follow ACE on X @ACEducation and LinkedIn.

About the Carnegie Foundation

The mission of the Carnegie Foundation is to catalyze transformational change in education so that every student has the opportunity to live a healthy, dignified, and fulfilling life. Enacted by an act of Congress in 1906, the Foundation has a rich history of driving transformational change in the education sector, including the establishment of TIAA-CREF and the creation of the Education Testing Service, the GRE, and the Carnegie Classifications for Higher Education. The Foundation was also instrumental in the formation of the U.S. Department of Education and Pell Grants, and most recently in the use of networked improvement science to redress systemic inequities in educational opportunities and outcomes.

About the University of San Diego
Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is among the Top 20 Best Private Schools for Making an Impact according to The Princeton Review. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.

Multi-state initiative will modernize certification pathways and pilot new professional learning model for high-demand fields

New York, NY — College Board and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching today announced a new partnership to strengthen the teacher pipeline and expand student access to career-connected coursework. Together, the institutions are launching a multi-state coalition to co-design modern teacher certification pathways and reimagine how educators are trained and supported to teach high school courses that prepare young people for college and career success.

Building on College Board’s Advanced Placement Career Kickstart courses, the partnership will support states as they redesign teacher pathways, update certification systems, and expand access to career-connected courses in high-demand fields. AP Career Kickstart expands the proven AP model by offering high schools a new set of career-focused courses and exams. Initial courses will be offered in cybersecurity and business.

“For decades, students have turned to AP to challenge themselves and prepare for college,” said David Coleman, CEO of the College Board. “Now we’re bringing that same energy to career learning, but students can only access these opportunities when teachers are prepared to deliver them. We’re proud to join the Carnegie Foundation in reimagining the American high school by ensuring teachers have the training, support, and modern certification pathways they need to guide students toward credentials that count for the future they choose.”

As states pursue competency-based policies and broaden career-connected pathways, the need for qualified teachers is urgent and growing. Despite significant state investment, 57% of administrators still report having trouble filling Career and Technical Education teaching positions, compared to 39% for other subjects. Current certification rules, which often include significant time and financial investment, can make finding a qualified teacher even more difficult. Without new thinking, those rules will continue to prevent talented teachers from teaching new career-relevant subjects and stymie efforts to prepare more young people for work and life.

The Carnegie Foundation and College Board are addressing this challenge by inviting states to join a coalition that will co-design and pilot new teacher pathways aligned with competencybased and career-connected learning in their states. Participating states will have the opportunity to co-design flexible teacher certification systems, expand access to AP and careerconnected courses, and contribute to a shared research agenda. Each state will also have the chance to serve as an early pilot site for a new AP Cybersecurity professional learning model.

“As we work to transform the American high school, we know that high-quality teaching remains the most powerful driver of student learning and success,” said Timothy F.C. Knowles, President of the Carnegie Foundation. “We are honored to partner with the College Board—an institution that, like Carnegie, has shaped American education for more than a century—to reimagine teacher preparation in ways that expand access, strengthen competency-based pathways, and advance success for students and educators.”

The coalition will launch in January 2026, with pilot programs beginning in June 2026. States interested in participating, and teachers interested in learning more about AP certification for career-connected learning, should contact Troy Smith, Executive Director, K-12 Policy, at tsmith@collegeboard.org.

For media inquiries please contact:

• College Board Media Relations: Holly Stepp, hstepp@collegeboard.org
• Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching: Kito Cetrulo, kcetrulo@carnegiefoundation.org

About the College Board

College Board reaches more than 7 million students a year, helping them navigate the path from high school to college and career. Our not-for-profit membership organization was founded more than 120 years ago. College Board pioneered programs like the SAT® and AP® to expand opportunities for students and help them develop the skills they need. The BigFuture® program helps students plan for college, pay for college, and explore careers.

About the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

The mission of the Carnegie Foundation is to catalyze transformational change in education so that every student has the opportunity to live a healthy, dignified, and fulfilling life. Enacted by an act of Congress in 1906, the Foundation has a rich history of driving transformational change in the education sector, including the establishment of TIAA-CREF and the creation of the Education Testing Service, the GRE, Pell Grants, and the Carnegie Classifications for Higher Education.

Alex Hernandez to help shape national efforts to strengthen higher education and advance high school transformation.

STANFORD, Calif. — The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Carnegie) announced today that Alex Hernandez, President of Champlain College, has joined its Board of Trustees. An educational leader and champion of career-focused learning, Hernandez brings decades of experience in K12, higher education innovation and workforce development.

“Alex understands that the future of education is not just about access, but alignment – of student aspirations, workforce demands, and opportunity,” said Diane Tavenner, Chair of the Board of Trustees. “His leadership exemplifies Carnegie’s commitment to a K12 and postsecondary sector that delivers quality and opportunity for all.”

Hernandez, the son of public educators, has long believed in the power of education to expand opportunity. At Champlain College, he has led efforts to ensure the institution serves as an economic engine for Vermont by focusing on career-aligned programs that prepare students for long-term success. Under his leadership, more than 80% of Champlain graduates are employed in roles related to their field of study. 

“At a moment when higher education must evolve to meet the demands of today’s learners and tomorrow’s economy, Alex brings the kind of bold, pragmatic leadership we need,” said Timothy F.C. Knowles, President of the Carnegie Foundation. “His work exemplifies the type of transformation the Carnegie Foundation seeks to accelerate.”

Prior to joining Champlain College, Hernandez served as Dean of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) and Vice Provost of Online Learning at the University of Virginia, where he pioneered programs that blended digital and human skills to meet evolving workforce needs and launched SCPS’s first Master’s degree. He previously led the Innovative Schools practice at the Charter School Growth Fund, one of the largest national efforts advancing personalized and career-ready learning in K12.

Hernandez began his career as a high school math teacher in South Los Angeles and held leadership roles at Portland Public Schools and Aspire Public Schools. He also brings private sector experience, having worked with Steamboat Ventures, Disney’s venture capital arm, and at J.P. Morgan.

“It’s a tremendous honor to join Carnegie’s board at such a pivotal moment for higher education,” said Hernandez. “We know that education remains the most powerful pathway to opportunity, but only when it’s designed to help students launch meaningful careers and build fulfilling lives. That’s the transformation Carnegie seeks to accelerate and I look forward to helping bring that vision to life.”

The R&D Agenda outlines knowledge-building and tool-making priorities to drive a national shift from seat time to real-world, competency-based high school learning.

STANFORD, Calif. – The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching today released a national research and development agenda (R&D Agenda) aimed at supporting the transformation of the American high school from time-based to competency-based models, to better prepare students for civil society and the modern economy. 

The agenda, “A National Call to Action: A Research and Development Agenda for High School Transformation,” identifies eight interconnected research priorities to guide efforts to modernize high school education beyond the century-old Carnegie Unit system. The research priorities are undergirded by two foundational and cross-cutting areas for investigation: Aligned Public Policy and AI/Infrastructure.

“American education is at a crossroads. While we hurtle toward an AI-driven economy that demands skills like creativity, critical thinking, and adaptability, our high schools are trapped in an outdated architecture preparing students for a world that no longer exists,” said Dr. Timothy Knowles, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. “This agenda is about building knowledge and tools to accelerate the transformation of the American high school – schools marked by much more ambitious goals for students; engaging, rigorous and experiential learning experiences, and; more powerful signaling systems to inform and accelerate student learning.”

The R&D Agenda is designed to address the urgent challenges high schools face today. Since the pandemic, chronic absenteeism has soared, student disengagement has accelerated, and educator burnout has reached crisis levels. Meanwhile, employers seek skills not reflected in traditional diplomas, four-year college enrollment is dropping, and economic security remains elusive for most Americans.   

The R&D Agenda is also designed to chart a path to the future. It calls for building knowledge about public policies that lead to improved student outcomes.  It calls for research on the development of the digital (AI), physical and social infrastructures required to deepen academic knowledge and skill development. And it outlines specific, actionable priorities to accelerate high school transformation:

• Create shared vision and decision-making across communities for transforming high school
• Establish a supportive learning culture and positive relationships for student and educator connection, purpose and agency
• Reimagine the role and working conditions of teachers and leaders to empower educators to accelerate the development of academic and durable skills
• Reimagine the high school canon, ensuring student learning experiences are grounded in science and are reliably engaging, rigorous and experiential, moving beyond seat time
• Create learning ecosystems, tools and structures spanning high school, postsecondary and career, to significantly advance student opportunity beyond graduation
• Increase access to credible, accelerative credentials through high school
• Build valid and reliable assessments of academic and skill development, capture evidence of learning from a wide variety of contexts, in and out of school, and provide useful insights to students, educators and families
• Create tools and methods for educators to engage with families to advance student learning and success, in and beyond high school

From today through 2035, the Carnegie Foundation will work with research partners, practitioners and policy makers across the nation, to generate evidence and synthesize findings across three domains: 

• Discovery Research that explores current practices, identifies promising innovations, and maps the landscape of what exists across different contexts and communities.
• Development Research that focuses on creating, testing and refining tools, practices and systems through iterative cycles of design and implementation in real-world settings.
• Impact Research that evaluates whether policies, programs and practices achieve intended outcomes, for whom and under what conditions.

“Transforming American high schools requires more than school-level proof points —it demands unprecedented collaboration across districts, states, researchers, and communities,” said Dr. Brooke Stafford-Brizard, senior vice president for innovation & impact at the Carnegie Foundation. “This R&D Agenda provides the coherent framework we need to align toward collective impact. Only by working together with a deep and expansive bench of collaborators can we ensure that high school transformation doesn’t just happen in pockets of innovation, but takes root, sustains, and scales nationwide to benefit every student.”

Further, the R&D Agenda anchors Carnegie’s Future of High School Network, launched in partnership with XQ Institute, which brings together some of the nation’s most innovative school systems to test and refine competency-based models in real-world settings.  

Over time, we expect the R&D agenda will focus national resources and effort, and ensure the American high school becomes a much more powerful engine of opportunity for all.

Carnegie Foundation launches “Future of High School Network” with 24 innovative school systems across the country.

STANFORD, CA — June 18, 2025 — Today, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching announced the launch of the Future of High School Network (FHS Network), a new initiative designed to catalyze learning, knowledge and impact to support a ‘new architecture’ for high school nationwide. The FHS Network brings together 24 school systems serving approximately 90,000 students, all committed to creating high schools that prepare students for success beyond graduation.

“For more than a century, the Carnegie Unit has defined the structure of American high schools with the conflation of seat time and learning,” said Dr. Timothy Knowles, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. “Today, we’re partnering with a fearless group of forward-leaning school systems across the country to imagine and instantiate education without the constraints of the Carnegie Unit. The Future of High School Network is about understanding and growing new models for the American high school—that set ambitious goals for students, offer meaningful, rigorous and engaging learning experiences, and use improved tools to measure and accelerate student progress.”

This effort is supported by leading national institutions, including the XQ Institute, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, Youth Thriving Through Learning Fund, and Carnegie Corporation of New York as well as partners at the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Together, the network members will work to modernize current outdated systems and scale competency-based high school models designed to accelerate student engagement, achievement and success in postsecondary education and work.

The Network will also serve as a test bed to inform the Carnegie Foundation’s forthcoming National Research and Development Agenda—a comprehensive effort to define the research and development priorities needed to advance effective high school transformation across the country. Ongoing insights from participating systems will help identify the conditions necessary for innovative models to take root, sustain and scale in high schools nationwide.

“Too many high schools were built for a world that no longer exists,” said Diego Arambula, Vice President for Educational Transformation, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.“ This Network, in tandem with our National Research and Development Agenda, will focus on building and refining what comes next, together with communities, educators, and most importantly, students.”

The inaugural network represents leaders from public school districts and charter school networks across urban, suburban, and rural regions of the country:

• Akron Public Schools – Akron, OH
• Aldine Independent School District – Houston, TX
• Building 21 Network – Multiple locations (Philadelphia, PA)
• Cañon City Schools – Cañon City, CO
• California Area Schools – Coal Center, PA
• CAST Schools – Multiple locations (San Antonio, TX)
• Concord Community Schools – Elkhart, IN
• Crosstown High School – Memphis, TN
• Ednovate – Multiple locations (Los Angeles, CA)
• Eastern Hancock Schools – Charlottesville, IN
• Grand Rapids Museum High School – Grand Rapids, MI
• Henrico County Public Schools – Henrico, VA

Summit Public Schools – Multiple locations (Seattle, WA)

Liberty Public Schools – Liberty, MO

Mooresville Graded School District – Mooresville, NC

New York City Public Schools – New York, NY

Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technologies – Elizabeth City, NC

Northern Cass School District – Hunter, ND

Piper Unified School District – Kansas City, KS

Portage School of Leaders – South Bend, IN

Purdue Polytechnic High Schools – Indianapolis, IN

Roanoke County Public Schools – Roanoke, VA

Rural Alliance Zone – Multiple locations (Randolph County, IN)

Springfield Empowerment Zone – Springfield, MA

A new Student Access and Earnings Classification recognizes the wide variety of institutions fostering opportunities for students nationwide

Washington, D.C. — The American Council on Education (ACE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Carnegie Foundation) published today the latest in a series of updates to the Carnegie Classifications. The redesigned system includes a revision of the historic Basic Classification, now titled the Institutional Classification, and a newly developed Student Access and Earnings Classification. 

Click here to read the full press release.

Washington, D.C. — The American Council on Education (ACE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Carnegie Foundation) published today the 2025 Research Activity Designations, unveiling an updated methodology intended to better account for and reflect the multifaceted, wide-ranging research landscape of higher education institutions in America.

Click here to read the full press release.